News Round-Up

• “Senior Greens urge party to step aside for Andy Burnham in Makerfield” – Senior Green Party figures have urged Zack Polanski to consider stepping aside for Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election if the Greater Manchester Mayor commits to introducing proportional representation, reports the Times.
• “What locals say about Burnham’s ‘working class’ roots” – It is Andy Burnham’s working-class hero shtick that is, well, sticking in the craw of many in Makerfield, writes Ian Gallagher in the Mail.
• “Stop looking for Burnhamism – in six years, I’ve never found it” – Watching the Mayor up close in Manchester reveals his unusual gifts and glaring weaknesses, but no coherent political philosophy that would make him a good Prime Minister, says Joshi Herrmann at the Mill.
• “That time Andy Burnham attended Bloomberg School” – The Mayor of Greater Manchester has been a partner to Bloomberg Philanthropies since his first year in office, notes Charlotte Gill on her Substack.
• “Farage urges voters to back Reform to ‘stop Burnham’ in Makerfield” – The first poll of the Makerfield by-election puts Andy Burnham on 43% support, with Nigel Farage’s party close behind on 40%, reports the Mail.
• “Farage under mounting pressure to prove Russian hack claim” – Nigel Farage is under mounting pressure to provide evidence for his claim that a state-sponsored Russian hack was behind the disclosure of the £5 million gift he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, according to the Guardian.
• “I’m victim of Tory smear campaign” – Robert Jenrick has accused the Conservative Party of trying to smear him after the elections watchdog asked police to investigate donations to his Tory leadership campaign, says the Telegraph.
• “Reform vows to axe tax on overtime in £5 billion pitch to Red Wall” – Reform has vowed to axe tax on overtime in a £5 billion pitch to the Red Wall that could benefit millions of workers, reports the Mail.
• “Reform have become the Right-wing Lib Dems” – Far from being radical disruptors, Reform has swallowed far too much cross-party orthodoxy, writes Elliot Keck in the Spectator.
• “You can’t help the poor by hammering the wealthy” – Wes Streeting claims equalising capital gains with income tax would raise £12 billion, but the Laffer Curve suggests otherwise, says Matthew Elliott in the Telegraph.
• “Wes Streeting’s boast about falling waiting lists is empty” – Wes Streeting’s claim about falling waiting lists is just a cynical sleight of hand that harms patients, claims GP and presenter Dr Renee Hoenderkamp in the Mail.
• “The approaching inflation crisis is a disaster for Labour” – It will soon be clear that Rachel Reeves cannot keep her promise to rein in rising prices, says Liam Halligan in the Telegraph.
• “SNP ‘embezzlement’ investigation has cost £2 million” – The police investigation into the alleged embezzlement of SNP funds has already cost more than £2 million, reports the Telegraph.
• “Keir Starmer and the myth of the metropolitan elite” – What marks Britain’s urban liberals out is their relative weakness and loss of confidence, notes Travis Aaroe in the Spectator.
• “Labour ‘letting blue badge cheat numbers rocket’” – The number of blue badges issued in London has more than doubled – something which campaigners say is reflected across Britain, according to the Mail.
• “Look who’s back! Starmer’s ex-Chief of Staff joins team Burnham” – Sue Gray, Sir Keir Starmer’s former Chief of Staff, is advising Andy Burnham on how to “transition to power” if he topples the PM, reveals the Mail.
• “Rape victim, 15, criticises judge who spared boys jail” – A girl who was raped by two teenage boys has attacked a judge’s decision to spare them jail sentences, reports the Telegraph.
• “PM backs review after teenage rapists spared custodial sentences” – The Prime Minister has backed a review into the sentences handed to two teenage rapists who were spared custody, after one of their victims questioned “What was the point in putting me through that?”, says the Times.
• “Asylum seeker brought to France in ‘one in, one out’ returns to UK” – An asylum seeker sent to France under Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘one in, one out’ scheme is back in Britain – and says he may be forced into crime to survive, according to the Mail.
• “Migrants scramble for British citizenship ahead of crackdown” – Migrants are rushing to apply for British citizenship in record numbers to avoid future restrictions on settlement rights planned by the Government, reports the Telegraph.
• “Pimp living in Britain on benefits faces Polish jail” – A Polish ex-cop convicted of running an international prostitution ring has been living in Britain on benefits while avoiding prison back home, says the Sun.
• “German man, 25, is charged with assault after Jewish men were attacked” – Jews gathered outside Beis Gavriel synagogue in Hendon apprehended an attacker who is said to have started assaulting members of the congregation at random, reports the Mail.
• “Jewish leader leaves country after ‘losing faith in Britain’” – The former head of the United Synagogue charity Jeremy Jacobs says he no longer feels safe in Britain and has left for Israel amid rising antisemitism, according to the Telegraph.
• “Unions plot worst ever school strikes” – Britain’s biggest teaching union is plotting its most disruptive ever school strikes, fuelled by Labour moves to make industrial action easier, reveals the Mail.
• “Benefits fraud investigators to turn to spy camera cars” – Video surveillance cameras will be concealed both inside and outside vehicles to secretly film fraudsters and obtain damning footage, says the Mail.
• “Incoming chief of UK speech regulator takes aim at VPNs” – Ofcom’s incoming Chair’s to-do list includes treating VPNs as obstacles, demanding new powers over YouTube and asking the Treasury for a bigger budget, according to Cindy Harper at Reclaim The Net.
• “Britain’s next-generation fighter jet is a disaster in the making” – Plans to produce the Tempest fighter jet with Italy and Japan shows the UK has not learnt from past fiascos, warns Lewis Page in the Telegraph.
• “Our HS2 disgrace: this is what £100 billion could have bought instead” – Many unsexy but crucial projects could have been built instead of the decade-late, scaled-back railway, writes Tom Whipple in the Times.
• “Rejoining EU ‘means using euro and bigger cash contributions’” – Labour’s push to rejoin the EU has suffered a major blow after a top official warned Britain would need to accept the euro, reports the Mail.
• “EU-mandated ‘nanny tech’ is taking all the joy out of driving” – So-called driver “assistance” systems aim to improve safety, but motorists do not need a battery of technology monitoring their every move, says James Innes-Smith in the Telegraph.
• “Protesters face ‘imminent’ hanging in wave of Iranian executions” – Sixty-two people are facing imminent execution in Iran, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Tehran ‘will surrender uranium stockpile’” – Iran has agreed to surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of a “largely negotiated” deal to end the war, says the Telegraph.
• “Why are Trump’s would-be assassins so forgettable?” – America is in a strange condition when a shoot-out at the White House will soon be forgotten, notes Freddy Gray in the Spectator.
• “Why Democrats are turning against Obama over $850 million trash can” – The Obama Presidential Centre is a monument to his rampant egotism, which looms over the poverty-stricken South Side of Chicago like a vast meteorite that has just plunged to Earth, writes Tom Leonard in the Mail.
• “Michelle Bachelet would be a calamitous UN chief” – The record of ex-Chilean President Michelle Bachelet suggests she should be nowhere near the shortlist for the top job at the UN, says Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph.
• “Weakness of will is not a biological condition” – The medicalisation of human nature has unwelcome consequences, warns Theodore Dalrymple in the American Conservative.
• “Frog poison detox ‘claims first British victim’” – A man has died after attempting a fashionable “detox” treatment using a drug made from the poisonous skin of an Amazonian tree frog, reports the Telegraph.
• “AI could be the end of HR” – Companies’ human resources departments are under threat as bots automate administrative tasks, says the Telegraph.
• “Google’s plan to run your life could break the internet” – Google’s new AI summary feature threatens to disrupt industries reliant on search traffic, warns James Warrington in the Telegraph.
• “If you think your bills are bad now, just wait” – The US, and especially the UK, may be dangerously on course for a sovereign debt crisis, yet debt and deficits play a surprisingly minimal role in either country’s politics, notes Lionel Shriver in the Spectator.
• “Hauliers, hotels and farms ‘in survival mode’ as fuel costs rise” – Many businesses in rural areas are at breaking point as a surge in the price of heating oil and diesel adds to pressure from rates rises and the minimum wage, reports the Times.
• “Britain set for hottest May day on record” – Britain is on course to break the hottest May day on record, currently 32.8°C set more than 80 years ago in Tunbridge Wells, says the Telegraph.
• “The world has seen the light on energy, except Ed Miliband” – As other countries scramble for energy security, Britain seems determined to leave its own fossil fuels in the ground, says Robert Colvile in the Sunday Times.
• “Is your chicken dinner ‘poisoning’ Britain’s rivers?” – A boom in industrial chicken farming is creating a waste product that campaigners claim is “like asbestos” for Britain’s waterways, reveals Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph.
• “Driving behind a Tesla” – Stuck for 20 minutes behind a Tesla on a winding upstate New York road, Francis Menton, on his Manhattan Contrarian blog, finds fresh reason to despair of electric vehicles.
• “BBC boss under pressure to ‘weed out trans activists’” – The new BBC Director-General has been urged to “weed out trans activists” after the corporation defended asking a biological male about experiencing misogyny, reports the Telegraph.
• “Norfolk Constabulary forced to tear up its trans policy” – Norfolk Constabulary is under fresh pressure to tear up its controversial policy that requires female officers to share changing rooms with biological male colleagues who identify as women, according to the Eastern Daily Press.
• “Andrew faces allegation over ‘incident with woman’ at Royal Ascot” – Police investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are examining an allegation that he behaved inappropriately towards a woman at Royal Ascot in 2002, says the Sunday Times.
• “Man gets criminal conviction and £266 court bill for tooting his horn” – A white van man has been landed with a criminal conviction and a £266 court bill for tooting his horn to get his friend’s attention, reports the Mail.
• “Gaza flotilla activists ‘beaten by Spanish police’” – Four pro-Palestinian flotilla activists have been beaten by police, dragged across the floor and detained at Bilbao airport, according to the Telegraph.
• “Entitled rodents meet Spanish security mammals” – A funny video on X has David Attenborough narrating the Gaza Flotilla activists getting humbled at a Bilbao airport.

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